Sheryl Magzamen: all fired up

Sheryl Magzamen's first days in the metropolis resemble those of many newly settled families: boxes to unpack, a new apartment to get to grips with and the children's return to school to prepare.

But another start awaits the American: that of the School of Public Health of the University of Montreal (ESPUM), where she is the new holder of an Eddie Goldenberg Canada Research Chair, a program which aims to attract world-renowned researchers to Canada.

At the helm of her chair worth eight million on the theme “One health and the impact of environmental factors on vulnerable populations”, the researcher intends to continue the work that has occupied her for nearly 25 years on the effects of the environment on health, particularly among populations with multiple exposures and vulnerabilities.

Smoke, a danger without borders 

One of Sheryl Magzamen's major issues at Colorado State University that she is bringing to Quebec is that of forest fire smoke.

For the professor trained across the United States in biology, health management, urban health and epidemiology, smoke constitutes a “silent epidemic”. Unlike many forms of air pollution – that produced by vehicles, factories or certain industrial activities – it largely escapes traditional means of control.

“We cannot put a catalytic converter on a forest,” summarizes the researcher.

However, smoke can travel hundreds or even thousands of kilometers and affect populations well beyond the areas directly affected by the fires. Its work focuses in particular on its respiratory and cardiovascular effects and on ways to better protect exposed populations.

And the challenge is as much scientific as it is behavioral. “What to do when the air quality index deteriorates? Should you cancel your morning run? stay inside? close the windows? use an air purifier? And above all, how can we ensure that these recommendations are realistic for everyone? asks Sheryl Magzamen.

Because a solution is never universal, she reminds us. A person who has well-insulated housing and an effective filtration system does not face the same choices as someone who lives in inadequate housing or who cannot afford certain equipment.

A question of environmental justice 

Over the course of her years of research with various communities, Sheryl Magzamen has learned to be wary of solutions that are too simple. She gives the example of a community in Alaska where wood stoves provide an accessible and sometimes free source of heat, but which pollute the air inside homes. For a researcher outside the community, replacing this heating source may seem obvious, but for residents, the reality is much more complex.

“You have to be pragmatic. What is possible, feasible, given the resources we have and what we are willing to sacrifice? Health is not always the priority when you also have to deal with the cost of living, employment, housing, cultural identity or available resources,” adds the professor.

This attention to local realities is at the heart of his way of doing science. She wants to work with communities rather than just study them from the outside.

A focus on children 

Among the areas of particular interest to Sheryl Magzamen are primary schools.

“Children spend a large part of their time indoors, in buildings that were sometimes designed for a climate that is no longer that of today. Air quality, ventilation, heat, humidity, chemicals, infectious agents: the school environment can influence both health and learning abilities,” she explains.

The researcher had a concrete reminder of this just before leaving Colorado. Barely had the start of the school year, her two children had already experienced several shortened days due to the heat. Schools designed primarily to cope with the cold now have to deal with episodes of heat for which they were not prepared.

And climate change is making the issue of ventilation even more complicated. During a respiratory disease outbreak, we want to bring in outside air to improve indoor air quality. But what to do when this outside air is loaded with smoke?

“We can’t even imagine taking smoky air from outside and bringing it into a classroom,” argues the professor. For her, public buildings must therefore be redesigned to become both healthier and more resilient, especially in places where populations spend a lot of time.

One health 

This complexity ties in with another central aspect of Sheryl Magzamen's new chair, the One Health concept, which considers that human health, animal health and that of ecosystems are intimately linked.

Forest fires once again provide a good example. Humans are not the only ones exposed to smoke, heat or extreme weather events. Domestic and livestock animals must also be protected.

Its research can thus bring together epidemiology, public health, veterinary sciences, environmental science, engineering and behavioral sciences. In particular, animals can serve as sentinels of environmental changes, while data from ecosystems can help to better understand the risks to which human populations are exposed.

At the University of Montreal, its research program will revolve around four main axes: climate change and smoke from forest fires; healthy and resilient public buildings; cumulative environmental exposures and environmental justice; and the integration of data on human health, animal health and ecosystem health.

Projects are notably planned in eastern Montreal and Rouyn-Noranda.

Bringing science out of the lab 

Perhaps what excites Sheryl Magzamen most about her new chair is the opportunity to bridge research and action. She sees the Eddie Goldenberg Canada Research Chairs Program as a particularly interesting mechanism to achieve this, among other things through links with provincial, federal and international partners.

She hopes that the knowledge produced can be transformed into concrete tools, such as exposure maps, risk communication tools, recommendations on ventilation and air quality or even decision support systems.

It will also continue several collaborations established in the United States – notably with NASA – because concerns related to air quality, forest fires and climate change do not stop at provincial or national borders.

A new playground 

But Montreal also offers him the opportunity to meet new communities and new disciplines. “These are such vast issues that no discipline – whether epidemiologist, sociologist or chemist – can provide definitive solutions alone,” she says.

She is also delighted to join the staff of ESPUM, where she feels she is “at home”. In Colorado, she worked at a veterinary school, although she was not a veterinarian. An experience which allowed her to multiply collaborations, but which also convinced her that she belongs to an environment where interdisciplinarity guides action.

And despite the magnitude of the challenges, Sheryl Magzamen says she is optimistic. Not because the problems would disappear. But because it is now where it wants to be: at the heart of a network of researchers and partners who are working to find solutions.

Between two boxes still to be unpacked and a few French lessons – which she begins with enthusiasm and humility – her new life in Montreal can begin. “It’s an incredible city and we love it. And my favorite extracurricular activity is eating! So, Montreal is incomparable!” she says with a smile.